Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi (File Photo: PTI)
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday tweeted a picture of his attending the Aspen conference in the US, in a bid to end speculations about his whereabouts.
The tweet from his official Twitter handle @OfficeOfRG read: “Very interesting discussions on the global economy & the disruptive power of tech at the conference in Aspen.”
Very interesting discussions on the global economy &the disruptive power of tech at the conference in Aspen pic.twitter.com/F3emxEQwj4
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) September 28, 2015
However, President of Indian National Overseas Congress, USA, Juned Qazi has reportedly denied Rahul’s claim, saying he did not participate in any such event in the US.
BJP has been constantly attacking Congress over the matter. There has been a lot of controversy over Congress vice-president’s whereabouts after The American Bazaar, a web-portal, ran a report claiming Rahul “is not listed for any global meet or the Weekend with Charlie Rose conference in Aspen, Colorado, US”.
BJP, which initially raised the Congress hackles by insinuating that Rahul has again taken off for a vacation and this time “forced” by his allies in Bihar, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav, who did not want him around during the poll campaign, immediately lapped up the story to accuse the party of falsifying his whereabouts.
“For the last three days, the Congress is misleading the country…. the Congress has claimed that he is travelling to Aspen in the US to attend a conference known as ‘Weekend with Charlie Rose’. But we have got to know that the said conference was over in July,” BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said.
But, the Congress reiterated that Rahul has gone to Aspen, US to attend a Rose conference, scheduled this weekend. Making a second statement on Thursday, Congress media chief Randeep Singh Surjewala said the BJP was “spreading canards.” He had first called it a “private visit.”
When in the US, Rahul usually spends time with his father’s old friend Sam Pitroda. Sources claimed Pitroda had lined up the Rose interaction in Aspen for Rahul. By evening, the Congress issued a clarification that Rahul was “in Aspen town in Colorado where a weekend with Charlie Rose is being organised. Not to be confused with Aspen Institute in Washington DC.”
Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka too travelled out Thursday night, most likely for the former’s medical check-up.